Carbon fiber, a variety of fiber produced from organic polymers with long strings of molecules that are bound together with carbon atoms, is rapidly becoming the material of choice for the manufacture of durable and lightweight components used across a number of industries. Their weight saving nature has granted carbon fibers an important place in the automotive industry and the material is becoming more common than ever before in common cars. Several other industries such as construction, aerospace, wind energy, and sports goods are employing carbon fibers across a number of applications to achieve reduction in overall weight of the end product and improvements in the structural strength of components.

Global Carbon Fiber Market: Trends and Opportunities

Initiatives aimed at the reduction of mass of vehicles as a way to reduce their fuel consumption and their overall contribution to air pollution, a rising set of applications across new industrial sectors, and cost reductions are the key factors contributing to the rising global demand for carbon fibers. However, despite cost reductions, the costs of carbon fibers remain relatively higher than a variety of commonly used industrial fibers. As a result, their uptake remains short of the projected values, especially across cost-sensitive regional markets, hindering the overall growth prospects of the global carbon fiber market to a certain extent.

Research and development activities aimed at the increased use of carbon fiber in automotive are rising in numbers and companies are coming up with innovative ways of using carbon fibers in an increasing number of components in premium as well as commuter vehicles. A recent instance developments in this area is the prototype carbon fiber composite subframe developed as a result of collaborative efforts between Ford Motor Company and Magna International.

The said subframe is said to reduce the overall mass of a vehicle by 34% as compared to an equivalent steel structure. Although no specific announcement regarding the kinds of vehicles the carbon fiber composite subframe will be used in or when, the fact that both companies are aggressively testing it against a number of criteria indicate immense promise for its large-scale use in the future.

From a geographical perspective, the global market for carbon fiber has been examined in the report for regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East and Africa. Europe is presently the leading contributor to the market’s revenue and is expected to remain leading destination for the overall developments in the next few years. The extensive usage of carbon fiber across the established automotive, aerospace, and defense industries in the region will promote growth of the market.

Asia Pacific will emerge as the most promising destinations for expansion owing to the rising production of vehicles in countries such as India and China. The thriving construction industry across these two developing economies will also drive the demand for carbon fiber. The North America market will exhibit growth at a decent pace as the economy stabilizes and industries such as automotive and aerospace recover from the recent economies downturn.

The vendor landscape of the global carbon fiber market is becoming increasingly dense and intensely competitive. To ensure sustainable returns, companies in the market are entering into strategic collaborations with OEMs. Resorting to economies of scale to bring down costs is also a popular strategy in the market. Some of the leading vendors operating in the global carbon fiber market are Toray Industries, Hexcel Corporation, Cytec Industries, Teijin Ltd, and Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.

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